The Wraith

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For other uses of the term Wraith and The Wraith, see Wraith (disambiguation).

The Wraith
The Wraith film poster
Directed by	Mike Marvin
Produced by	John Kemeny
Written by	Mike Marvin
Starring	Charlie Sheen Sherilyn Fenn Nick Cassavetes Randy Quaid
Music by	Michael Hoenig J. Peter Robinson
Cinematography	Reed Smoot
Editing by	Scott Conrad Gary Rocklen
Distributed by	New Century Vista Film Company
Release date(s)	November 21, 1986
Running time	93 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$3,500,000

The Wraith is a 1986 action/horror film, directed and written by Mike Marvin.^[1] The film was later featured in an episode of Cinema Insomnia.^[2]

The movie is dedicated to the memory of Bruce Ingram, a camera operator who died during the filming of one of the car chases.^[1]

1 Plot summary
2 Cast
3 Soundtrack
4 Release
5 See also
6 References
7 External links
8 Notes

Plot summary[edit]

Packard Walsh (Nick Cassavetes) is the ruthless leader of a gang that steals the cars of people they intimidate into racing. The entire town fears him, including his girlfriend, Keri Johnson (Sherilyn Fenn), whom he sees as his own property. She actually doesn't love him and stays with him out of fear so he won't harm her. The town knows he killed Jamie Hankins, Keri's former boyfriend, but the police cannot solve the murder due to the absence of Jamie's body. Packard controls the town with his power.

As Packard organizes the races in the outskirts of the town, his tyrannical control of the races is suddenly at risk when a black Dodge M4S Turbo Interceptor called The Wraith arrives in town. The driver of this car is covered from head to toe in a racing helmet and black body armor that conceals his identity. The armor is adorned with metal braces resembling those worn by victims recovering from severe physical trauma. He starts to appear at Packard's races, where he kills gang members, starting with Oggie (Griffin O'Neal), then Minty, and finally Skank (David Sherrill) and Gutterboy. Sheriff Loomis (Randy Quaid) tries to investigate the Turbo Interceptor, but the unidentified driver is impossible to find, showing only on races organized by Packard.

Meanwhile, a young visitor named Jake Kesey (Charlie Sheen) shows up on his Honda XL350R Enduro bike to stay in town for a while. He quickly befriends Keri and also Billy Hankins (Matthew Barry), Jamie's brother, who works at Big Kay's, the local burger shack. Jake has multiple scars around his neck and body, which he keeps as a secret. Keri becomes interested in him.

As Packard's gang grows smaller with each death, Rughead (Clint Howard), the gang's tech-geek who organizes races and who did not participate in Jamie's murder, realizes that the gang is being targeted because of the murder and quits the gang in fear of his life. Keri herself is suspicious of who Jake is. When she confronts him over this, he tells her to ask Packard, explaining that Packard knows why Jake is here. Jake says that he has come a long way for Keri and his time is just about over.

Packard, now the last member of his disbanded gang, confronts Keri at Big Kay's over her association with Jake and forces her to leave with him. When Billy attempts to intervene, Packard beats him and kidnaps Keri, telling her that they're going to flee to California. When she confronts him with the knowledge that it was him who murdered Jamie, he becomes physically abusive and tells her that she belongs to him. As he stops the car and pulls a switchblade on her, they are confronted by the Turbo Interceptor, who challenges Packard to a race. As with the others, Packard dies in a fiery explosion. No members of Packard's gang are left alive (except Rughead), and Sheriff Loomis abandons both the investigation and the pursuit of the Turbo Interceptor.

As Keri arrives home that night, the Turbo Interceptor pulls up to the curb and a driver emerges, who reveals himself to be Jake. Jake tells an incredulous Keri that his new body was the closest he could get to being Jamie again and tells her that they were destined to be together. He then asks her to wait for him because he has one last thing to take care of.

Jake goes to Big Kay's, accidentally scaring Billy. He calms Billy down and gives him the keys to the Turbo Interceptor, the only one of its kind, telling him that his work here is finished, and that "there are instructions in the glove compartment." When Billy asks, "Who are you, bro?", Jake replies, "You said it, Billy." As Jake rides off on his dirt bike, Billy comes to the realization that Jake is, in fact, his older brother Jamie.

Jake picks up Keri, who was being watched by Sheriff Loomis, and together they ride off into the night on his dirt bike.

Cast[edit]

Charlie Sheen as Jake Kesey / The Wraith
Matthew Barry as Billy Hankins
Sherilyn Fenn as Keri Johnson
Randy Quaid as Sheriff Loomis
Clint Howard as Rughead
Nick Cassavetes as Packard Walsh
David Sherrill as Skank
Jamie Bozian as Gutterboy
Griffin O'Neal as Oggie
Chris Nash as Minty
Christopher Bradley as Jamie Hankins

Soundtrack[edit]

Tim Feehan – "Where's the Fire"
Ozzy Osbourne – "Secret Loser"
Stan Bush – "Hearts vs. Heads"
Ian Hunter – "Wake Up Call"
Mötley Crüe – "Smokin' in the Boys Room"
Robert Palmer – "Addicted to Love"
Nick Gilder – "Scream of Angels"
Lion – "Power Love"
Honeymoon Suite – "Those Were the Days"
Lion – "Never Surrender"
Bonnie Tyler – "Matter of the Heart"
LaMarca – "Hold on Blue Eyes"
Billy Idol – "Rebel Yell"
Jill Michaels – "Young Love, Hot Love"
James House – "Bad Mistake"

Release[edit]

The movie was released on VHS by Lightning Video and on LaserDisc by Image Entertainment in 1987. In 2003, the movie was released on DVD by Platinum Disc Corporation (now Echo Bridge Home Entertainment). In spite of having no special features and only being shown in pan and scan, there is some footage that was missing from the original VHS and LaserDisc releases. Lionsgate released a special edition DVD on March 2, 2010.^[3]